HC to decide on pleas of activists challenging court jurisdiction

The Bombay High Court, on Wednesday, reserved its order on a plea filed by eight activists in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case, seeking default bail. The accused, Surendra Gadling, Varavara Rao, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira approached the bench, challenging the order passed by a Pune sessions court in September 2019, by which it took cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the NIA in the case.

A bench comprising Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Nijamoodin Jamadar heard the pleas of the accused through their advocate Sudeep Pasbola. He argued since the NIA had invoked charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), it ought to have approached a special court designated to hear cases under the NIA.

Pasbola said UAPA cases must be dealt with by a special NIA court and not session court. He cited a recent judgment of the Nagpur bench, wherein it held that the cases under the UAPA law would be dealt with by special courts, irrespective of whether a central or a state agency is investigating it.

Opposing the submissions, state advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni pointed out that the accused filed the petition to challenge the orders taking cognizance of the chargesheet. “However, it should be noted that the chargesheet was filed within the stipulated time,” Kumbhakoni said.

Similarly, additional solicitor general Anil Singh submitted that the judgment of the Nagpur bench won’t be of any use to the accused as the facts were different from the present proceedings.